On Election Night, while my fellow New Jerseyans were celebrating a well-deserved victory for Jon Corzine and Virginians were rewarding Tim Kaine for his service, I was in our nation's capitol. I had the honor of attending a fundraiser for my dear friend and Democrat Barbara Ann Radnofsky, who's running for the US Senate against Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Birdbrain). The event was held at the Mott House, across the street from Capitol Hill, and it certainly was worth the four-hour drive to attend. I hadn't seen Barbara in person since the DNC in 2004, so getting to talk to her and her wonderful guests was a true pleasure. Read on if you want to know what happened, and what Barbara Ann will do as Texas' next US Senator.
(Crossposted at my restarted site, "My Two Cents-With Four Eyes" http://stephenyellin.blogspot.com)
Twelve US Senators cosponsored the fundraiser, including John Kerry, Evan Bayh and Harry Reid. Unfortunately, a last-minute vote was held in the Senate, forcing Harry Reid to leave early and leaving only Dick Durbin (Illinois) able to make it later on. Still, a sizeable crowd of Washington lobbyists, attorneys at Barbara Ann's law firm as well as friends and family came to listen to her speak. Reporters were also there, from the Dallas Morning News and from The Hotline (part of the National Journal). Being part of the "friends" category, I was able to hob knob with some very nice (and very rich) people, without the additional cost. Much to my surprise, not only did many of the guests admit to having read DailyKos before, but a few even knew my moniker! "Good times" as my old acting director would say.
Congressman Mike Honda (CA15) came and stayed with us. Honda's a neat guy - smart, outgoing and with a nice sense of humor - and he was very impressed by what I do online. He got the honor of formally introducing Barbara to the assembled guests (about 40 of us altogether), before turning the microphone over to her. Barbara was her usual self- confident, determined, friendly and dropping lines of Spanish (she repeated one of her introductory lines in perfect Spanish) with ease.
Barbara's stump speech (as she delivered it to us) always begins with her father. Morris Radnofsky was a World War II airman who was shot down and captured by the Nazis. He later escaped from a prisoner of war camp and made his way through enemy lines disguised as a German soldier. As Barbara explains, "My father's war was won in extraordinary times with extraordinary service - and today, we face those extraordinary times again." She fondly recalls her father's determination to serve his country, and how his values were passed on to her. Talking of the response of the country to 9/11 and to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, she said that "people will respond to the call of service if government is willing to sound that call." And now, she continued, "an American call of service is needed to make this country great again."
(note: the links are for Barbara's issue page, where you can find more about her stances)
We then went into an extended Q&A session, with Barbara fielding a variety of issues. The issue that came up first was veterans' funding. As Barbara pointed out, in April 2005 Kay Bailey Hutchison ignored a $2 billion gap in funding for the VA Department despite pleas for support from the Commander of the American Legionnaires and a report published by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) that pointed out the terrible lack of funds for our ex-soldiers. Hutchison based her refusal to back a funding restoration on the Bush Administration's advice, telling her that the VA was okey dokey. This left KBH holding the bag once the Bushies reversed themselves on funding in June. Even after this embarrassment of brownnosing, Hutchison held firm to her convictions - voting against the Akaka-Stabenow Amendment to give additional funding to VA hospitals. Simply put, Barbara would actively support full funding of veterans' funds and hospitals, doing her part to help those that her late father served with. http://www.radnofsky.com/...
The issue of Medicaid came up next. Earlier this year Senators Gordon Smith and Jeff Bingaman (a bi-partisan team) proposed a bill to restore cut funds from the Medicaid Program as proposed by Bush's 2006 budget. Hutchison, again relying on Dubya for her reasoning, voted against the bill, which ultimately passed. Later, pressure from Texas groups such as Barbara's campaign resulted in KBH changing her tune, voting for Medicaid funding to help create South Texas hospitals. http://www.radnofsky.com/...
A trickier issue -abortion - then was brought up. After all, can a pro-choice Democrat win in Texas? Barbara pointed out that both pro-choice and pro-life groups (save for extremist Bible-thumpers) don't want to have abortions if they can be avoided. With pre-natal care, better sex education and greater health care availability for women of less economic strength, they could be able to avoid unwanted pregnancies and in some cases save the mother's life. "You can find common ground in politics," Barbara made clear, and then painted Hutchison as the "extremist" on abortion by voting to weaken economic opportunities for working women - making them more likely to have an abortion down the road for financial reasons. http://www.radnofsky.com/...
Barbara was also insightful on the issue of immigration. As she pointed out, the security of the borders must be tied in to economic development in southern Texas and in Mexico itself, so that the need for illegal immigration is eventually eliminated. Hutchison's response, as Barbara told us, was to sponsor a bill that would give local police in the Southwest the opportunity to be "officers of the peace" - essentially free vigilantism. Calling Hutchison's proposal "wacky", Barbara declared that a short-term solution found immediately can be sometimes more harmful than a long-term solution that needs to be planned out.
A couple of questions dealt with the race itself. "Change can be made, but only if Democrats provide competent leadership and fresh ideas," Barbara said. She pointed out the national trends away from Bush, even in Texas and from the Republican leadership in Washington, and unveiled her planned coalition for victory: Democrats, moderate Republicans and churchgoers who might not normally vote Democratic, but who have shown support for her so far. Barbara has made over 270 trips so far in her campaign (since late 2004), and will almost certainly be the Democratic nominee to take on KBH. She's accepted a debate offer for March 27th, and she said that "if I had to debate an empty chair, I will do that."
Senator Durbin showed up towards the end of her speech, and pumped up the group with his own endorsement of Radnofsky's campaign. "There's a tide building in this country," Durbin said, and he made it clear that even in Texas "change is on the way". I later got to speak with Senator Durbin, and he again was a courteous and genuine guy. What is with those Democrats, anyway? I thought being nice and all went out with the Gingrich Revolution? (snark)
All in all, it was a great time in DC that night. I finally got to meet some of Barbara's wonderful campaign team (Seth Davidson and Katie Floyd in particular), made several new political connections and got to experience insider politics close up. I am confident that Barbara will win next year, and that she'll bring her "tough name, smart dame" standard to Washington. If you want to help make that possible, you can always go to her site, http://www.radnofsky.com and send a little love, Lone-Star style. Thanks!
(Note: You can read more on the event at http://www.dallasnews.com/... and at http://www.radnofsky.com/... (Hotline Article from 11/9))